Editing Thomas Jefferson (section)

===American Philosophical Society===
Jefferson was a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] for 35 years, beginning in 1780. Through the society he advanced the [[Science in the Age of Enlightenment|sciences and Enlightenment ideals]], emphasizing that knowledge of science reinforced and extended freedom.<ref name=Hayes432>[[#Hayes|Hayes, 2008]], p. 432.</ref> His ''Notes on the State of Virginia'' was written in part as a contribution to the society.<ref name=TJFAPS>[[#TJFAPS|TJF: "American Philosophical Society"]]</ref> He became the society's third president on March 3, 1797, a few months after he was elected Vice President of the United States.<ref name=TJFAPS/><ref name=Berstein118>[[#Bernstein03|Bernstein, 2003]], pp. 118–119.</ref> In accepting, Jefferson stated: "I feel no qualification for this distinguished post but a sincere zeal for all the objects of our institution and an ardent desire to see knowledge so disseminated through the mass of mankind that it may at length reach even the extremes of society, beggars and kings."<ref name=Hayes432/>

On March 10, 1797, Jefferson gave a lecture, later published as a paper in 1799, which reported on the skeletal remains of an extinct large sloth, which he named ''[[Megalonyx]]'', unearthed by saltpeter workers from a cave in what is now Monroe County, West Virginia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Babcock |first=Loren E. |date=March 18, 2024 |title=Nomenclatural history of Megalonyx Jefferson, 1799 (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Pilosa, Megalonychidae) |url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/117999/ |journal=ZooKeys |language=en |issue=1195 |pages=297–308 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.1195.117999 |doi-access=free |pmid=38532771 |issn=1313-2970|pmc=10964019 |bibcode=2024ZooK.1195..297B }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jefferson |first=Thomas |date=1799 |title=A Memoir on the Discovery of Certain Bones of a Quadruped of the Clawed Kind in the Western Parts of Virginia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1005103 |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |volume=4 |pages=246–260 |doi=10.2307/1005103 |issn=0065-9746 |jstor=1005103}}</ref> Jefferson is considered to be a pioneer of scientific paleontology research in North America.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Simpson |first=George Gaylord |date=1942 |title=The Beginnings of Vertebrate Paleontology in North America |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/985085 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=86 |issue=1 |pages=130–188 |jstor=985085 |issn=0003-049X}}</ref>

Jefferson served as APS president for the next eighteen years, including through both terms of his presidency.<ref name=TJFAPS/> He introduced [[Meriwether Lewis]] to the society, where various scientists tutored him in preparation for the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]].<ref name=TJFAPS/><ref name="Ambrose, 1996, p. 126">[[#Ambrose|Ambrose, 1996]], p. 126.</ref> He resigned on January 20, 1815, but remained active through correspondence.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 2, p. 399.</ref>